"C.H.U.D" Another Cult Classic from the 80s Horror Vault

11/7/2013

Cannibalistic humanoid underground dwellers or C.H.U.D's are the hideously deformed mutants living in the sewers of New York City.Although back in the eighties it wasn't that much better on the surface.Like many of the 80s horror movies, I've reviewed this one has also become a cult classic.From its B-movie style monsters to its dirty and sleazy depiction of the big rotten apple.

George Cooper is a fashion photographer who lives with his girlfriend/model Lauren in a small apartment in the city.She gets pregnant and they have the should we or shouldn't we talk about whether to keep the baby.They give a very strong pro-choice message and she chooses to keep the baby and that's all were ever hear about it.Professionally George is in kind of a rut and is looking to break out of it.He got his start in photography by documenting homeless people in the sewers.So he decides to revisit his roots and meets A.J., played by Daniel Stern, a young and energetic soup kitchen owner.People have been disappearing and they set out to find answers.This movie made me think a lot about the Clive Barker story than movie "Midnight Meat Train" which has a similar plot involving an NYC photographer discovering horrifying people within the endless sewer tunnels. Although Barker's story is pretty hardcore and violent, while "C.H.U.D" has more of a comical side to it.

George and A.J. find out that the nefarious city employees have been storing nuclear waste in these tunnels until they can move it somewhere else.It's too late as it has started to change the sewer people into the C.H.U.D.'s who hunger for human flesh.When the C.H.U.D's start appearing on the surface the city they must be dealt with.The C.H.U.D's themselves look like guys in big slimy latex suits with glowing yellows eyes and are kept mostly in the shadows for obvious reasons.

With the NYPD now on the job we go inside a cafe and meet a couple of New York's finest eating breakfast with one of them being played by the yet to be famous John Goodman.The city plans to gas the sewer to kill off the C.H.U.D's but our heroes are still down there.Will they survive both the C.H.U.D's and the NYPD?This is a fun and schlocky movie from the 80s horror vault.